What to Bring/pack for Taiwan?

I’m a British student who is on his way to Taipei in September to study Mandarin. Just thinking ahead, is there anything that I should bring with me that I can’t get in Taipei. (i.e Vimto and hob nobs)

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I would highly recommend you bring a year’s supply of Vimto and Hob Nobs – everybody else does who comes out here. When packing, remember, you can buy clothes here, but not Vimto and Hob Nobs. So pack wisely.

Bring a cotton sheet.

You can get Hob Nobs here,
but not the chocolate kind.

It’s very hard to find British women here. If you got room, bring a couple. Only good ones though.

It’s hard to find a chainsaw here; and baby, I really misss mine…

After consultation with the boyfriend: If you’re bigger, lots of good socks and underwear (socks are optional if you won’t wear socks), a good pair of sandals or two, some shorts that fit properly. A few good books to tide you over until you get to a good bookstore. Some “home food” to be eaten on emergency days only.

That’s about it, I think. Just a note for girls coming here: Bring MANY bras and panties, cuz the quality here sucks! (unless you’re into baby blue lace padded bras in the middle of summer!). Also, good women’s clothing is harder to find due to differing tastes. If sequins, velvet and colour-blindness don’t bother you, by all means shop here. Also, if you’re more than about a 10, you may have trouble finding stuff, so stock up at home.

Don’t bring footy socks or a beanie. I’d agree with the sandals though. If I was a Pom, I’d bring a pair of Doc sandals, and some dvd’s from their glory says of sport circa 1920’s.

Bring your mom too, as moms are always useful for ironing shirts / cooking dinner / reminding you when to send birthday cards.

quote:
Originally posted by *monkey*: Bring your mom too.

Don’t you mean ‘mum’?

Cheers Folks!!!
Any Evertonians in Taipei by the way? Is there any expat five-a-side teams?

Hi peeps,

How goes it? I’m moving to Ilan end of this month, currently am in London packing. So far I’ve packed make up, clothes and shoes and I realise I need to start being more practical as I have limited baggage allowance and I’m sure I can buy most of what I’ve packed there. I ask the humble folk of forumosa what must I not forget to pack? This can be a necessity or a want. This will be my first time in the Far East :astonished: I guess I’m taking steps to make sure my first month there is pleasant.

Thanks

oh sidenote is there a 7 eleven in Ilan?

Decent deodorant. Hard to find in TW. I always stock up when abroad.

And 7-eleven or some variety thereof (Hi-Life, Family Mart) are everywhere here. You can’t walk more than a few steps without seeing one!

Welcome to f.com

[quote=“citizen k”]Decent deodorant. Hard to find in TW. I always stock up when abroad.

And 7-eleven or some variety thereof (Hi-Life, Family Mart) are everywhere here. You can’t walk more than a few steps without seeing one!

Welcome to f.com[/quote]

hahahah thanks matey. I actually was going to get that from there.

Do you enjoy living in Taiwan?

  1. Shoes -casual, elegant, the works -socks if you are several sizes above average or have specific preferences

  2. Lingerie -underwear- plenty (or leave specific instructions on how to have more sent to you)

  3. OTC medication you really like. Examples: TUMS or other mild gastric conditions helpers, anti-diarrhea, migrane, pain killers, cold medicine, cough syrup, etc. Docs and medicines are cheap here, but cold medicine here is mostly antibiotics, and stomach medicine may or may not hit the spot. Meaning most hospitals are great for serious stuff but an ingrown nail is better treated with your own stuff, stuff you have used years before and trust and know how to use.

[quote=“british_desi”]hahahah thanks matey. I actually was going to get that from there.

Do you enjoy living in Taiwan?[/quote]

Yeah, I love it; wouldn’t have lived here for 13 years otherwise! :wink:

You’ll see a lot of negative comments about it on these boards, but if you’re open-minded, willing to learn a bit about the local culture and have a bit of patience, it can be a wonderful place. :sunglasses:

Thanks Icon for the list :slight_smile: will sort meds out 2mor. Do they have online shopping there? Incase I want specific stuff. Do they have most of the franchises we have in the West?

Citizen K- wow that is reassuring to hear alright! I’ve had mixed reviews. 13 years is impressive! I like to think I’m open minded and have spent some time living in the Middle East so I guess I’ll be able to adapt but will take a lil time. I just got done with uni, finished a CELTA and got a job and no real time to digest it all :noway: . Is there a lot of foreigners in Ilan?

You can’t get Neurofen here. But common cold medicine like Lemsip are readily available.

Marmite is tough to get as are jaffa cakes (although they were in Jason over xmas), so emergency food parcels are needed sometimes.

If you’re a woman I hear that bras here are fitted differently.

Bring a light weight jacket, because it’s not really that cold here, when you first arrive.

Your sense of humour.

Also, books. Lots of books. I live in Taichung and there is nowhere here that has more than maybe a dozen books in English, and arbitrarily chosen ones at that (last time I went, I came back with a collection of essays Nick Horny wrote about reading books, because it was the only thing there I could imagine enjoying). Even pilgrimages to Page One or Eslite up in Taipei are pretty frustrating. I doubt there’s anywhere at all in Yilan.

This is a common question – have a read here for more answers; maybe the mod can merge some of these and make a sticky?

On what one should consider bringing:
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=72583
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=50347
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=1226
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=59443
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=40553
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=50347
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=36273
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=18081
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=16150
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=1458

And on what one is allowed to bring:
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=55430

You can get those here, no prob.

Only if you’re fluent in Chinese (that is, if you’re buying locally off Yahoo Auctions Taiwan). You can use your credit card and Paypal account from back home to order things from Hong Kong, Australia, NZ, the UK and N. America, but the shipping often doubles the cost of the item.

Costco, B&Q, KFC, McD, Pizza Slut yes. Not sure about where you’re going.

BTW, we have an extensive history of threads here asking where to find individual items (like deodorant) and categories (like Halal food), so if you’re wondering about any particular item, you can ask or you can also try our search function. Enter the item name, select Food forum for food items, Health for meds, and so on, then choose to search for Topics rather than Posts.

Do you have any particular needs, favorite foods or hobbies?

In general, the most important thing is the shoes, clothes and bras and other underwear for women, especially if you’re not petite, and anything that you’re very particular about, in terms of a brand. Bras here are heavily padded with underwire, although one can get Calvin Klein sports style (at a price). Shoes run small and narrow.

Don’t forget that you can also mail yourself boxes of items. You can also prepare boxes to be mailed later by friends or family for you in case you need them.